eSeminar: Making effective eLearning Modules: Multimedia Principle

Part four of the popular series Making effective eLearning Modules with Adobe Captivate focused on the Multimedia Principle within Clark & Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia eLearning. We had a huge crowd gather for the session which focused on rationale behind the multimedia principle and introduced some examples of use of the multimedia principle in Adobe Captivate Projects. As has become my habit I’m posting a link to the PDF of the presentation with the notes included here and the embedded version of the slide set is below.

Last week’s topic was the multimedia principle, popularized by Richard Mayer, Ruth Clark & colleagues. At the heart of the multimedia principle is the notion that we should use both text and other media at the same time. In “eLearning & the Science of Instruction” and spread across many of the articles before and since, Clark & Mayer present the psychological arguments supporting the theory as well as the evidence upon which their assumptions are built.

The core idea then is that words + media is better than words alone. Words in this context could mean written text or spoken language – but its important to note that it means information abstracted by language. This is all rooted in the findings of cognitive theory (the rising evidence and conjecture regarding the manner in which our brains function) provide the foundation upon which these theories of eLearning are built.

This was the fourth of a series which are designed to help explain why module design is the way it is in much of today’s eLearning design, and as we move forward into the many additional sessions that are related to this one, I’ll be demonstrating how those theories lead to end products with practical examples that stretch the ideas all the way out to individual tools and techniques.

Below are the URL’s to the Multimedia session I did last week, along with links to the others in the series, also included are those which are coming in the next couple of months.

This one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on creating effective eLearning content, specifically on the Contiguity Principle, which indicates that the spatial relationship (proximity) of symbols (like text) to analogous images (things that look like the subject of the learning) is significant, and plays a key role in how effectively we learn. This session will explain the overall concept and demonstrate how this concept can be applied with particular focus on the following features in Adobe Captivate; Position, Resize, Transform, Align, Pan, Zoom, Auto-Captions, Rollover.

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will present a one hour online eSeminar for users of Adobe Captivate and / or Adobe eLearning Suite. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as Redundancy, which suggests that presenting symbols via both text and aural channels is less effective than presenting via only one. Examples will focus on the use of Audio Editing & Text in Adobe Captivate 5.

This one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on creating effective eLearning content. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as Coherence, which suggests that off topic ancillary material can distract from learning. This theory stands in opposition to arousal theory, providing research based evidence that when stimulating animation or any form of non-relevant information is provided, it can actually decrease the efficacy of the instruction. Examples will focus on the use of Templates, Master Slides & Object Styles in Adobe Captivate 5.

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will present a one hour online eSeminar for users of Adobe Captivate and / or Adobe eLearning Suite. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as the Segmenting Principle, which suggests that authors of eLearning content should break content up into small pieces or chunks in order to help avoid cognitive overload for the learners. Examples will focus on the use of Slide Paradigm, Object Styles & PPT Import in Adobe Captivate 5.

This one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on creating effective eLearning content. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as pre-training, which suggests that elearning content authors should first build up basic information about essential elements which are pre-requisites to understanding the larger concepts. Examples will focus on the use of Quizzes, the Quiz Results Analyzer and the Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate 5.

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will present a one hour online eSeminar for users of Adobe Captivate and / or Adobe eLearning Suite. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as the Individual Differences Principle, which suggests that design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high knowledge learners, and for high-spatial learners rather than for low-spatial learners. Examples will focus on the use of Advanced Actions, ADA/508 Compliance, Closed Captions, Localization, Video Closed Caption, Branching and User Variables in Adobe Captivate 5.

Want to do more reading? Here’s a brief list of recommended supplemental reading:

Clark & Mayer (2007.) eLearning: and the Science of Instruction http://amzn.to/chkPuw (Links to Amazon – but this book is pretty widely available.)

Session4 :
This media incoperation with words is truly logical, It is the only way (apart from good, solid knowledge) to keep the readers interest intact. And it will work with all ages, not boring at all !! congrats !!!